Shadowhunters S3E15: Quick Thoughts

Shadowhunters continues with ‘To the Night Children’. This was an excellent episode, with a particular focus on the fast rise and fall of Heidi, as well as approaching the way the different characters treat the rules. Let’s have a look at what happened.

• We’ll start with the aforementioned vampire’s rise. Heidi was at her best this week, drinking in the success of her plot against the werewolves. She started the episode by rallying her newfound pawns, telling them to be proud and that the Downworld is theirs for the taking. Griffin was briefly the voice of reason, stating that Maia and Jordan were missing, and that means there were witnesses, but Heidi wasn’t bothered. Why? Because she already had a plan to deal with this. The Shadowhunters were, of course, informed of the slaughter, and Heidi simply walked in and placed the blame squarely on Griffin and company. Alec is more trusting of her than Izzy, which leads to Heidi playing for sympathy and bringing up what Raphael did to her, driving a minor wedge between the siblings. That’s when it all started to fall apart for her.
• The Shadowhunters arrest those involved with the attack, and when Heidi is informed, she tells the remaining vampires that that means there’s a leak, and they will She really didn’t know how true that was. In fairness to her, she made an attempt to tie up loose ends by visiting Nora, the woman she Encanto’d a few episodes back, in the hospital and telling her to hold her breath. By the time that Nora has been saved and confirmed Heid’s involvement though, Heidi has already been confronted by the angry Maia. Heidi makes it abundantly clear that she feels invincible and that nobody can stop her. This plays out during the ensuing fight, with her making quick work of Maia, and sinking her teeth in. She never once considered that it was too easy though and soon starts reeling in pain. Maia had injected herself with holy water. Heidi turns to dust, just as Alec and Simon turn up to arrest her.
• The consequences of the ongoing link between Clary and Jonathan was on show too. Clary is absolutely mortified that she didn’t stop Jonathan when she had the chance. This leads to a clash with the returning Ailine, wherein Ailine starts questing Clary’s loyalty and hurting her to hurt Jonathan. Clary loses it and lays a beatdown on her until she’s pulled off. Later, Clary meets up with Jonathan and he’s pretty certain that she loves him and won’t turn him in. She says that she wants nothing to do with him, but lets him go. Later on, she ends up in a trace while staring at a fire, and listening to some subtle whispers. She burns her hand, which hurts Jonathan but makes him smile. Jace sees what’s happening and rushes in, discovering that she had no control over herself during the incident. He finally suggests that they go and see the Silent Brothers, which really should have happened already.
• Magnus and Alec have some couple-related issues this week. While he tries to find accommodation, Magnus is staying at the Institute, which is technically against the rules. Alec is less bothered by this, but Magnus is more than aware of the stares of the Shadowhunters outside the main group. The great thing with this is that it really shows how naïve Alec is compared to the more experienced Magnus. It eventually bubbles over into Magnus being jealous of Alec confiding in Underhill, but they sort out their issues. At the end of the episode, we get two major advancements. First is that Alec has realized that everybody is breaking rules all around him and how can he expect people to follow them if he doesn’t? So, he kicks Magnus out but states that he wants to move in with him outside the Institute. There’s a sweet moment where they declare their love, but when Magnus tries to kiss him, he starts bleeding and has a seizure. The cost of regaining his magic has built up very quickly, and I’ll be interested to see if this ends up with him needing to sacrifice it again.
• This was very much an episode about closure too, with two sort-of-over relationships hitting a clear end. Simon has supported Maia throughout the Heidi incident, but while she manages to talk her way out of being charged with murder by Alec, Simon is less forgiving. He outright asks her. “If you keep breaking rules, what makes you better than her?” Then, he walks away. This is very symbolic of his gaining closure with her, I think. Meanwhile, once the truth comes out, Izzy takes it upon herself to arrest Raphael. He goes in quietly, and they have a touching moment where he tells her that not seeing her again brings the worst pain and that he’ll always care for her. They give a definitive goodbye here too. With both relationships done, this does open up more space for Izzy and Simon to get together, so I expect that to happen over the next couple of episodes.
• Finally, we had what I think will be a little foreshadowing. Luke is pleading guilty for the slaughter at the Jade Wolf. His former colleagues in the PD don’t believe him, and the investigator reminisces with him about an incident where he removed a bunch if squirrels one-by-one. Luke did it, even though they were clawing at him because he wanted to save them. The investigator wonders who he’s protecting this time and reminds him that ex-cops don’t do well in prison, but Luke is resolute. He eventually explains to Clary that sometimes sacrifices are needed to ensure that many others don’t suffer. As much as it upset Clary, I think this is going to have a profound effect on her. I still expect her to end up having to try sacrificing herself to stop Jonathan. I’m pretty sure she’ll find a way to survive, but the intent will be there.

And that was that. This was a really easy watch, and I loved seeing the focus on Heidi’s story here. In a way, it felt like a very relationship focused episode too though. Between the end of various relationships, the shifting of power in the Downworld, and the barely mentioned computer chip that we first saw in the last episode, everybody is developing along with each other. Great stuff.

But what about yourselves? What do you think of the series? How did you find this return? Let me know in the comments below.